As All Nights Do
by pocketsizeBrewster
Summary: They sat there and talked and laughed, Abby reliving the fun times they all have together. The cool autumn air was sending a crisp breeze through the windows, and Tony thought, as they all thought, that autumn is a season of rememberance, the spice and sweetness at work in the wisps of the wind and the falling leaves of the color changing trees.
1. Chapter 1

Another week at the NCIS office had almost passed, as it was 23:00 in the bull pen, and Tony, McGee, and Bishop still sat at their desks. It had been almost a year since they handed in their badges, since Tony went Israel, since Bishop was added to the team, and Tony couldn't stop thinking about it.

He sat there in silence, looking at the piles of paperwork he had recently just finished. He was waiting for McGee and Bishop to finish up, they were meeting Abby at the bar as soon as they were finished. It was apparent that Bishop had already finished and that McGee was wrapping up things at his desk. Only, Tony didn't notice this, because he wasn't paying attention. He didn't even realize that he was day dreaming until McGee said

"Hey, Tony, you ready to go?" and Tony looked up and saw both Tim and Ellie standing over him in front of his desk.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm ready." Tony said.

Tim gave him a concerning look and Tony gave him the "Yep" face in return, and Tony got up in his dazed state and followed his two partners into the elevator descending below the bull pen. The bar was not far from the bull pen, and they were walking there. Tony was in front of the two remaining agents. McGee and Bishop talking about her home out west and her new favorite thinking food. Without really thinking, Tony said,

"I took Ziva to this bar over a year ago. That's the last time I was here."

Ellie just looked down at the sidewalk and McGee gave Tony a cautious 'are you okay' look and Tony just sighed and squeezed his eyes shut for a second. It was very apparent now that something was wrong with him, and just then, they walked into the bar. Abby spotted them from across the crowded room and ran up to meet them.

"Hey guys!" She said as she ran up to them, the alcohol hint in her breath apparent. They walked toward her as Abby embraced them all in one of her big, peppy hugs.

"Tony, McGee, Bishop, its so good to see all of you!"

"It's good to see you, Abby." said Bishop with a big smile on her face, and Tim hugged her and said "Yeah, its been a long day." and the four people walked into the bar.

They found and table and sat down, Bishop and Abby went to the bar to ourder a round of drinks. Leaving only Tony and Tim at the table.

"Alright, Tony, come on. Whats going on?"

"Nothing, Tim, I'm, I'm fine."

"No, Tony, you aren't." Tim said, as he nudged Tony's hand and said "You've been carrying that around all night, and I don't think I'm the only one whos noticed."

"Oh." Tony said. "To be honest, I didn't even realize." And he looked at the gold Star of David necklace in his hand. He gave it a squeeze and put it in his right coat pcoket. He sighed.

"It's been a long time, Tony. Have you heard from her?"

"No, McGee, I haven't. She hasn't even called. The last time she did this was-"

"Somalia." McGee cut him off.

"Yeah." Tony said, and accepted the glass of bourbon on the rocks Ellie handed him with a smiled on her face.

"It feels so good to be out of the office." Bishop said, and Tim and Abby gingerly agreed, and they made a toast, to good days and good friends. They all drank.

They sat there and talked and laughed, Abby reliving the fun times they all have together. The cool autum air was sending a crisp breeze through the windows, and Tony thought, as they all thought, that autum is a season of rememberance, the spice and sweetness at work in the wisps of the wind and the falling leaves of the color changing trees.

"Tonight," Abby said "is a good night. Don't you just love those?"

McGee and Bishop laughed and smiled, and then excused themselves to go get another round of drinks at the bar, taking stacks of empty glasses with them.

"Tony," Abby spoke again, "I know something is on your mind, do you wanna talk about it? I mean, you know I'm always here for you."

"I know, Abs." Tony said, as he embraced her in a hug. "It's just been hard for me this past year, some things just come back to me when I least expect them to, when I finally thought I buried them in the mounds of the past."

"Its not about burying them, Tony, its about letting them go."

"I can't let her go, Abs. Not even after all of this time. Bishop is great, you know, she really is. Funny, smart, reliable, cute even, but-"

"But not Ziva." Abby cut him off. "I know."  
"It's just, it's weird, you know? Not having her around all the time. The last time I was here was with her."

Abby just listened, becase she knew that was all she could do.

"We got so close all those years, and I finally felt something coming, something good. And then just like that, it was over. I lost a best friend, Abs. Someone to talk to, someone to look forward to."

"There will be other women, Tony. Other partners, and you've got us. You've always got us. "

Tony smiles. "I know, Abs. Its just. We understood eachother. We bickered all the time, and picked on her, but I really, cared about her, you know? More than I've ever cared about anyone, I think."

"Tony, these things happen. People leave us, or don't love us, and then we fall apart. But we have to put ourselves back together. And you have, but its-it's hard, I know. It was, is, hard on all of us. I know you guys were close, but she had to do this, and she never meant to hurt you. Ziva would, she would never hurt you. I know that. I'm all about facts, and thats a fact."

"It did hurt, Abby, it still does. I don't talk to her, I don't even talk about her. There are week or month long periods where I don't even think about her, but then, but then she always comes back to me, in some way. I just don't know what to do anymore. A part of me feels like it was, lost, in all of this. She was the only person I ever really opened up to, an outlet. And now shes gone."

"Maybe she'll be back one day, Tony, but you can't live your life waiting for her, you know damn well that is not what Ziva would have wanted."

"I know it isn't."

And then he drank from the glass Tim handed him, and the night continued on, just as all nights and days do.


	2. Chapter 2

The air outside was cool, and it promised the spicy smell of hot apple cider and the beauty of cool, clear blue skies. The agents were walking outside now, ready to head home after the night away from the office. They were all a little bit affected by the alcohol.

"You know guys," Bisop said "I never said this, but I'm so glad to be at NCIS. You guys have welcomed me like a family. I feel like I'm really doing things now, and doing them with you guys for this agency has truly been an honor. Thank you."

"Glad to have you, Bishop." McGee said.

"Yeah." Abby said. "It's great to have you around, Ellie."

Bishop smiled and hey all walked back close together in a single file line. Tony on the far end near the street, Tim Bishop next to him, then Tim, then Abby. The three agents hailed a cab together, and Tony said politely, "I think I'll walk guys, I'm not far from here. It was fun. Have a good night." They all said their goodbyes to Tony, and Abby hugged him togethly, knowing he would need it. "See you, Tony." said Tim. "Bye, Tony." from Bishop, and "Take care of yourself." from Abby. Once the three agents entered the cab and it pulled away from the curb, Tony began his long journey home. Because in all honesty, he wasn't close to there, he was far, and he knew that they all knew it. He could trust them to leave him alone when he knew he needed it, and he looked at the sidewalk and carried on, hands in his pockets, head facing his feet.

"Christ." Tony said out loud to himself. "Why do I do this to myself."

He returned home close to an hour later, welcoming the warmth of his apartment. He did as he usually does, putting his keys on the shelf near his movies, placing his gun and his badge in the cigar box, and feeding Kate, his fish. "Maybe I should get you a friend, Kate. What do you think?" He said aloud to this fish. "Maybe I'll name her Ziva."

Tony was a little drunk, but not anything close to where he couldn't handle himself, just to where he was feeling more than he normally stuck his hand in his coat pocket befoe he took it off to hang it up, and he was clutching the necklace, so tight that he though he might break it. He knew when he left her in Israel that they wouldn't keep in touch, because she needed to do this on her own. But he thought to himself, when two people want to talk, one of them has to do it first. So with that, he picked up his phone, and dialed the number he hoped was still hers.

It rang. There was no answer. "Well, that was probably a mistake." he said to himself. He then sat on his couch, took his shoes off, unbuttoned his shirt, and got ready to take a hot shower before retreating to his bedroom for the rest of the night. Just as he was about to reach the bathroom door, he heard his cell phone ring. He ran back to his couch to answer it.

"Shalom."

Thats it, he thought to himself. He heard her voice again for the first time in so long. She called back.

"Ziva." He said, his voice low and husky. "Hi."

"Hello, Tony." the line was silent for a while, both of them taking in the fact that they were talking to eachother, realizing the presence of the other person on the other end of the phone line.

"It has been a while. Tony."

"Too long, Ziva."

"Are you okay, Tony? It is late there, no?"

Oh crap, he though in his head. Time difference.

"I'm okay, Ziva, I just missed you. I'm sorry to bother you, I know you wanted to be alone. I just thought-"

"It is okay, Tony, it nice to finally hear your voice again. I have missed it."

Tony smiled at this comment. "Sweetcheeks," he said, the sound of the smirk on his face evident "I don't even know what I'm doing here without you."

"You are living your life, Tony, and it is better without me in it, to complicate things."

"No," Tony said "it is only harder."

"I-"

"Had to do this, I know. I just miss you, Ziva. But I hope that things are going well for you. I shouldn't have called. Have a good night Ziva. And hey, Take care of yourself, okay?"

And with that, Tony hung up, and the line was dead.

Tony looked at his phone, and rubbed the front of it. Looked at the clock and saw 03:30, and went into his room to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

It was an unrestful night of sleep for him at best. Although the air outside was cold and crisp, there was a heat in his bedroom that he could not escape, no matter how many layers he shred. He was sweating, tossing and turning, having nightmares. After that phone call he could not get her out of his mind, even when he was asleep. He was having some sort of unrestful dream when he immediately shot up in bed, wiped the sweat frantically off his face, did some heavy breathing, and leaned up again the back board of his small full sized bed.

He sat like that for a while, trying not to even think. He slowly driften off into sleep when he was awoken by loud banging noises in his kitchen. He jumped out of bed, grabbed the gun he keeps taped behind the backboard, and stelathily walked into his living room, making a note to be as careful as possible because of what might lie ahead. He saw through the crack of the door that there were several men in his living room, but they didn't appear to be professionals. He confidently walked into the room, held his gun out in front of him and shouted the oh so familiar "Federal Agent, NCIS, drop your weapons and out your hands in the air!"

Two of the men, clearly surprised put their hands up. One of the men began to laugh. "Something funny?" Toy asked. "Why, yes, Agent Dinozzo. You seem to be out numbered in your own home, no?"

That accent, he thought. Shit. _Israeli. _

The man lifted his gun, but Tony had beated him and already taken his shot, the man bleeding perfusely from his gut on Tony's floor. He turned to the other two men weilding his gun when he realized they were still on the floor, looking up at Tony in horror. "Please, we only came because he paid us, he did not tell us anything about the job."

"Yeah, great." Tony said, as he walked up to the two men, handcuffed both of them and then called Gibbs.

Once the phone call was over and team was on their way, Tony took a seat on his couch and took in a deep breath. He sqeezed his temples in a desperate attempt to aleivate the headcahe he was feelings.

"Who paid you."

"We don't know his name, we swear. He was Mexican, the orders came from the inside."

"Alejandro Rivearia. Great."

Just then the team busted through the door, guns drawn.

"Boss. It's clear."

"Alright, Tony, what the hell happened here?"

"I, uh," Tony said "don't really know, boss. Just woke up to them in my living room. The dead guy was Israeli." He air caught in his throat as he said it, thinking again, of her. "The two guys on the floor claim they don't know anything, just did what they were paid to do. Orders came from, uh, Mexican drug cartel leader in prison."

"Rivearia."

"Yeah, boss. I think so."

The crime scene was investigated, the body taken by Ducky, and the two men on the floor apprehended in the holding cells at the Navy Yard. Once the team arrived in the bullpen, Tony was excused from questioning and send up to Vance's office to brief him.

"Agent Dinozzo, please sit down." Director Vance said, notioning to the chair in front of his desk, the chair he had sat in a year ago when he was talking to Vance about the shooting in his apartment. Conincidence? Too bad it was a rule that they didn't exist.

"Director." Tony nodded.

"Tell me what happened, Agent Dinozzo."

Tony went through the notions and explained the whole story, the Israeli accent, the Mexican pay order, the hand cuffs, the whole nine yards. He kept hearing the Israeli accent, did he recognize it?

"Mhm, I see. Agent Dinozzo, you are to stay with Agent Gibbs tonight, I need you to lay low for a couple of days until he figure out what this is all about.

"Got it, Director."

They both gave a head nod and Tony bounded the sairs back down toward the bull pen. He saw that his team was crowded around the plasma and he listened to any leads and any theories that they might have had. Once the discussion was over and Ellie and Tim were following some orders from Gibbs, Tony sat down at his desk. Gibbs walked over to Tony and said "Dinozzo, you're with me."

"On it, boss."

They walked into the elevator, and just as it started to move downwards, Gibbs hit the kill switch.

"You talked to her, didn't you, Dinozzo."

"Ah, boss, well you know I may have called her only for a -"

Gibbs gave Tony a good head slap and turned to face him, looking him right in the eyes.

"Ouch! Alright, yeah, I talked to her. I called her last night."

"Ah. Thought so." Gibbs said, as he gave a small chuckle and flipped the switch throwing the elevator in motion and turning the lights back on.


	4. Chapter 4

Things went on okay from there. The day continued, and he went back to Gibbs' house later that evening, setting up camp on his couch. The two men were silent most of the way home, probably for many reasons, one of them, being that it was comfortable. Because there was no talking, there was thinking. Tony knew that both he and Gibbs were thinking about the case progress. Tony getting shot up in his apartment was not necessarily out of the ordinary, the orders coming from Rivearia was not surprising, the only thing that had a red flag, was the Israeli accent. They were still waiting for the DNA test that Abby was performing, but Tony could only think of one person, Adam. And when he thought of Adam, he thought of Ziva. The two were so often intertwined when it came to cases.

Gibbs went down to the basement once they had eaten and Tony was settled on the couch. Tony laid there, in the dark, in Gibbs' living room, and thought only of her, only of his brief phone call, of the sweetness he felt in hearing her voice.

"Ah" Tony said to himself, and then he sat up. He walked circled the living room once, walked into the kitchen and looked toward the basement. "No" he thought in his head. If I go down there, then I have to talk.

"Dinozzo,"

"Yeah, Boss"

"You coming down or what?"

Tony walked down the stairs, thankful that his decision had actually been made for him. On second thought, Gibbs was a functional mute, he was good at listening. Upon entering the basement, Gibbs pulled out a dusty chair from the corner of the room, blew on it, and half threw it in front of Tony. He then walked over to his work bench, emptied out a jar of nails, blew in the jar, and filled it a third full with Maker's Mark whiskey. He handed the glass to Tony. Tony spun the glass around in his hand and watched the golden brown liquid swirl. He looked up at Gibbs, who was not looking at him, but working on his new boat. The new boat appeared to modeled after an old small wooden toboat model that sat upon the work bench. On the back of the boat in gold script letters, was written the name Chickadee.

Tony knew that was his mom's name. He'd known Gibbs long enough to know this without asking or being told. "That's, beautiful, boss." Tony said, as he marveled at his bosses most recent creation. And the funny thing, Tony was thinking in his head, is that it wasn't beautiful. Not really. He didn't like the colors, thought the writing style on the back was too thick, and would have used different seats if he was doing it himself - which of course - he never would. So what makes it beautiful, he said to himself? From where Tony was standing, he could see the boat very clearly. The softly sanded wood, the careful detailing across the body, the light shine from the lacquer. But it wasn't looks. Gibbs was making that boat in memory of his mother. She was dead, long gone, by now. But he was bringing her back, by making something in memory of her life on this earth. The boat was kind of alive, Tony thought. It didn't matter what it looked like, that was obsolete. And then he thought back to this book he had read so long ago. He did read, much to ZIva's surprise. He just didn't talk about it, he had an appearance to uphold.

"Writing does not resurrect, it buries." He said out loud. Only, he didn't realize he had said it out loud until Gibbs looked at him, and dropped his tool on the wooden work bench.

"Tony, whats up? You gonna talk or what?"

"Uhmm" Tony coughed and cleared his throat, "I just can't clear my head. Did I make a mistake?"

"It wasn't your mistake, Dinozzo, it was hers."

That was important to Tony for two reasons. It was important because he had been blaming himself the whole time for walking away, but he only did what she asked. He had known this already, but should he have stayed anyway? That's what he thought his mistake was, going when he could have stayed anyway. Now, he knew that he was being respectful, and not stupid. The second this was important was much, much bigger than the first. Gibbs said that it was a mistake. He didn't say "It had to happen." he said "It was hers." implying that it was a mistake to walk away from what they had.

"Yeah." He sighed. "It sure was." That ended the conversation. Tony went upstairs. On his way up the stairs, practically in the doorway, he yelled down, "Thanks, boss." Gibbs just nodded his head, because he knew that he was right. This was something Tony should have known all along, something he deserved to know, not something that he had to be thankful for.

Tony went upstairs, but he didn't get back on Gibbs' couch, instead he got into his car. He drove home, back to his apartment, where he wasn't supposed to be. He just needed one thing, then he would leave. Besides, Gibbs knew that he was there and what he went to get, he didn't have to tell him for him to know. He walked into his apartment, grabbed a bottle of bourbon, and left. He wasn't going to sleep anytime soon, and anyone with half a brain knew that the boss pretty much never slept at all. In a flash, he was back in the basement, and the bottle was opened. Gibbs looked at Tony with satisfaction and gave a small chuckle. Tony poured two more drinks, and handed a jar of bourbon to Gibbs.

"So," said Gibbs, and then he nodded at Tony. Tony knew this was the 'If you came here to talk, then talk' nod, and so he did. They talked until it was too early in the morning to continue drinking, and then, they both went to sleep. They talked about Kate, Shannon, Kelly, EJ, Borin, Jenny. Well, mostly Tony talked, and Gibbs listened, occasionally adding in small phrases here and there. As soon as Tony got back on the couch and pulled the shades shut, Gibbs' phone rang.

"Yeah, we'll be right there." Gibbs said. Tony heard this and got out of bed. "New developments on the case." "Figures." Tony said, and then both men walked outside, into their cars, and drove separately to the Navy Yard.


	5. Chapter 5

The men had been drinking, but lets face it, to a former alcoholic and a man who never goes a night without a drink, the two and a half drinks they had did almost nothing for them but remind them what it felt like to feel the inside of their esophagus burn. Besides, Tony thought to himself, he was too awake to sleep anyway.

Gibbs pulled into the Navy Yard parking lot first, with Tony's car close behind. Gibbs entered the bull pen with Tony on his heels. What they were subconsciously expecting was to see McGee and  
Bishop standing in front of the plasma discussing things, or McGee at his computer and Bishop covered in papers and junk food. What they saw, however, briefly stunned them both.

McGee was hunched over his desk talking calmly to the Israeli man they knew as Adam. Abby was standing six inches behind McGee leaning over his shoulder, anxiously rubbing her hands and listening intently to the conversation. Tony kept his cool, but he was not expecting this. Just as he and his boss began to walk up to McGee's desk, Bishop scampered into the office.

"Gibbs!" Bishop almost yelled.

"Yeah, Bishop, what do we got?" Asked Gibbs.

"Uh, boss, can I talk to you in...private?"

With that Gibbs led Bishop to the elevator, where every agent in the office knew Gibbs was going to hit the kill switch. Tony could barely pay attention to this conversation. He could only look at the odd situation occurring at McGee's desk. He was thinking to himself, and before he knew it, he walked over the desk, and was standing right next to where Adam was sitting. Upon a closer look, Tony was able to see that Adam was badly beat up. His face was scattered with cuts and bruises, he had slash marks in other various places on his body, but his eyes were still those dark Adam eyes. Tony had expected that if anything, Adam was behind the whole thing, not a victim.

"McGee, Abby." Tony said, then he lent a cautious look at the desk and said "Adam."

Tony began to study Adam, because he had not been briefed on the situation yet and did not know what the new progress was. Adam, much to his surprise, must have read his mind.

"It was Rivera. I do not know what happened fully. I was in my home in Tel Aviv when three men broke into my apartment and held me at gun point. I was able to take care of two of them, but the third one got away. Mossad sent me here because they said something similar had happened to you here on American soil. But, I do not buy that as the only reason. There is a link we are missing somewhere."

Tony sighed and rolled his desk chair over next to Adam.

"I never thought I'd say this to you, but it's nice to see you're alive, Adam."

"Thank you, Tony. You too."

The air in the room was thick. Tony could sense that Adam was willing to cooperate. He felt a strange kind of connection between them because they had gone through the same thing. But then Tony began to think, why? Why these two men? They are not friends, they do not work for the same agency. Then it dawned on Tony, they only connection the two men had to each other. Both Tony and Adam said at the same time "Ziva."

That one word set a light bulb off for all four of the agents. Adam and Tony were standing up in less than a second. McGee was back on his computer checking for unusual banking records, phone records, email, credit cards, anything he could find on her. Abby went down to her lab to alert Ducky so that he and her could begin to try and find a lead, and Adam and Tony were geared up in less a minute. Tony grabbed his gear bag and threw open his top desk drawer, grabbed the Star of David necklace and barked to McGee "Find her." Adam and Tony then exited the bull pen, but were met at the bottom of the stairs by Gibbs, Bishop ran past them at a pace that was alarming for herself. Tony tried to start explaining. Gibbs cut him off before he could even get a word out.

"Go to your apartment, call her. Track her. Find her."

And with that, Gibbs was ascending the stairs and Tony and Adam were bounding down them. They got into Tony's car and sped to his apartment, which was still half crime scene set up. The first thing Tony did was turn on his laptop. If Ziva was alive, he would be the one to find her.

Adam gave Tony the number he had for her on his cell phone, and allowed Tony to make the call. Adam also stated that he did not want to alert Orli Elbaz and Mossad because he was suspicious of their intentions. Why send Adam here? That was it. It clicked in Adam's head.

"They sent me here because Mossad knows something. Something is happening in Israel. They attacked you to throw you off, then sent me here so nobody could follow up in Israel. We have to get back."

"Call Vance and Gibbs, I'm going to keep trying Ziva." Tony said, clutching the necklace in his hand.

Before Tony knew it, Adam had confirmed with Vance and Gibbs and they were on their way to the Navy Yard to get on a small private plan to Tel Aviv. Tony was driving angrily with one hand while constantly trying to get a hold with Ziva with the other. Adam was talking fast in Israeli to one of his contacts in Jerusalem. Just as they pulled into the runway where they would board the plane, Tony got an answer.

"Ziva David." She said. Upon hearing this, Tony's voice almost caught in his throat.

"Ziva."

"Tony?" She could sense the tension in his voice.

"Are you okay, Ziva?"

"Yes, Tony I am okay. What is going on? It is late there."

"Ziva, listen to me, I'm with Adam. We're coming to Tel Aviv tonight. You need to get cover, now. Go to a safe house, go stay with a friend, and do not leave until we get there and secure your location. Got it?"

"Tony, I am not an agent anymore, I left this life behind. What is going on?"

"Ziva, please. For me, just do this."

And Tony hung up the phone. Adam got off no more than ten seconds later and the two men were on the plane, seating, waiting for take off before the pilot was even in the air craft. Once they had been sitting there for ten minutes and the plane was about to take off, Tony realized what had just happened and what was going on. He also realized that he could do nothing more from inside the plane and his anxiety started to calm down. Adam turned to look at Tony.

"Are you ok, Agent Dinozzo?"

"Yeah, Adam, I'm fine."

"You know, you are not as bad as I once thought."

"Gee, Adam, thanks."

"I mean that. At first, I was not so fond of you. I had heard stories from Ziva, and I had my doubts anyway. After first meeting you it was obvious you were attracted to her, that I did not like."

"I wasn't just attracted to her." Tony gruffed out.

"I know. After you asked for my help in Israel that was apparent. And your response tonight. You are a good Agent, Agent Dinozzo. We will take care of this case."

"Thanks, Adam." Tony sighed. There was silence for a number of hours. Tony was having trouble clearing his thoughts. He hadn't seen her in so long, hadn't talked to her, hadn't gotten even a letter. It had been almost a year, and nothing. One would think he would have moved on by now, but that was obviously not the case. Tony felt a burning feeling in the pit of his stomach and he felt like he might throw up. He un-buckled his seat beat and began to shift around uncomfortably in the small air craft seat.

"You love her." Adam said.

Tony said nothing. He only clenched his hand into a fist and kept a steady gaze out the window into the soon to be Israeli night.


	6. Chapter 6

It was not long until the plane landed. It was a very lengthy but Tony's mind was more than occupied the whole way there. It wasn't until the plane jutted from the landed and Tony went to un-buckle his seat belt that he realized how bad his knuckles hurt. He hadn't unclenched his fist the entire way there. It was still clutching the necklace when they landed. They immediately got into the car that was waiting for them, and drove to where Adam knew that Ziva would be. Adam explained on the way there that Ziva did not have many friends in Israel. But that she did have many enemies. People who pretended to be her friends like the doctor from his first visit, that really was angry at her for the death of her brother Ari. People who mad at her for moving to America, then moving back here, like she had the nerve to be an Israeli again. People were angry at her for not being able to save her father, her sister, her mother. And the people that were jealous, because she could be with the man she loved if she snapped her fingers.

Tony did not like to hear these things because Ziva had chosen to stay in Israel to make a better life for herself, not to be haunted by demons of the past she tried so hard to forget, the past she felt so guilty of. Adam also explained that Ziva was working as a Linguist on Adam's team, not as Mossad. She did not carry a gun, she did not go into the field. She was living in a small house on the outskirts of the city of Tel Aviv, and her and Adam saw each other often. "She speaks of you often." Adam said.

Tony did not say anything, he just turned over to look at Adam and then re-focused his eyes on the foreign road in front of him. Adam knew that Tony had some resentment towards him because he and Ziva were so close. He knows people used to think they were intimate, however, they were not. Adam was just her friend, and she was his.

"We are not intimate, Agent Dinozzo."

"Right, I don't want to hear about this, Adam Eschel."

"I am simply trying to tell you. You trust me I know, but you do not like me."

"Ziva likes you."

"Yes, she does, but she also likes you."

"Funny you say that, because she wouldn't come and be with me."

"Is that what you think?"

Tony did not answer because he no longer wanted to have this conversation. After the liquor of the night it was enough that his head hurt, and the close he got to the house, the more his stomach started to hurt. He was nervous. His hand was weak from being clenched for so long. There was no longer time to think about these things, because Adam was informing him that he needed to pull into the next drive way on the right.

"This is it." Adam whispered. Both men got out of the car and Tony motioned to Adam to take the back of the house while Tony took the front. Both men cleared their respective sides and Adam returned to the front and the two men knocked on the door.

There was no answer. Tony looked at Adam and motioned to the door. Adam understood. Tony backed up and kicked the door and it swung on its hinges. Adam ruched in with his gun drawn and Tony did the same. They cleared the house and did not see Ziva.

"Shed. There is a shed in the back." Adam said. Tony followed Adam who was leading the way. Tony did not waste time now, she was inside, he could feel it. He kicked down the door and Adam drew his gun while Tony ran over to Ziva. She was bound to chair, her wrists and ankles tied. She suffered some minor bruising, but it was not much. The only explanation is that the people were going to come back, this is not how professionals finished a job. Adam realized this too, and the two men collectively decided not to stick around to see what would happen. Tony untied the barely conscious Ziva from the chair and scooper her up in his arms. _Light _he thought in his head, lighter than she was the last time he carried her anywhere. Adam was on the phone alerting his contacts to steak out the house and wait for the people to come back, he knew that he and Tony needed to get Ziva back to safety. Adam grabbed the car keys that Tony threw at his over the car hood and Tony got in the back seat with Ziva.

He started to check her head for wounds, and he attempted to wake her up. She began to stir. Her pulse was steady, respirations slightly shallow, but she was definitely stable. Adam drove them directly to his safe house, the one even Ziva did not know about. Once inside, Tony placed Ziva on the couch and covered her with a blanket. She was slowly waking up and he did not want to startle her. Adam and Tony theorized that it was A) safe to take her here because they did not think Adam was in the country and that B) the people who did this thought it was okay to leave Ziva there unattended because they knew she was no longer and agent and was not in peak agent physical or mental mode anymore.

Adam left the living room to prepare some food for the three of them. Tony was staring at Ziva on the couch. She started to open her eyes and Tony knelt down beside her. She looked at him, not as confused as he thought she would be, which was good.

"Tony?"

"I'm right here, sweetcheeks." Tony forced a smile to make things easier for her. He put his hand on her forehead and pushed away the stray hair that was straggling on her face and over her eyes.

"What is going on?"

"We can talk about that stuff later. Are you okay?" Tony asked. He then grabbed her hand and helped her to sit up and lean back against the couch. She sat up and looked around. Adam then entered the room and handed her a glass of water. "Here, Ziva, drink this. You will feel better."

"Thank you, Adam." Both men looked at her with soft expressions, to make her feel comfortable enough to talk to them about what happened.

"I am fine." She said.

"No, no Ziva, don't pull that anymore. This is different now, we are different. Talk to me, Ziva. To us."

"I am fine, Tony, Adam." Hearing those words were like a punch to the stomach for Tony. He had heard those words before. He figured that after being gone and off the job for so long, that at least this would have changed.

"Okay, Ziva." Tony said. He was not going to argue with her anymore like he used to. It never got him anywhere. He would wait until she was ready to talk.

After they had eaten the hot food that Adam had prepared for them, Ziva said she was going to take a shower. In their frenzy to leave the house, they did not grab her bag of clothes. Adam handed her a towel and told her that she could sleep in the second guest room, but she refused, saying she wanted the couch. Both men tried to argue with her to take the bed, albeit, unsuccessful.

Ziva went off into the bathroom and Tony prepared the couch bed for her. As he walked past the bathroom to carry his gear bag into his assigned room, he realized that Ziva did not have clean clothes to wear. It was clear now that Ziva did not get soft, she was not going to take a bed, and she would sleep in her dirty clothes if she had to. After the bed was made up, Adam announced that he was going to bed because they had an early flight back to the US in the morning, and all three of them were to be on the plane. Tony could not sleep, he did not want to. Instead, he sat on the other couch in the living room waiting for the shower water to stop running. Once it did, Tony knocked in the bathroom door.

"Zi, I'm leaving a shirt and shorts outside this door for you. Do not argue with me on this." He said, and then walked away back into his bedroom and shut the door. He was not going to try and convince her to take the bed, it would not work. Instead he shut his door, turned off this lights, and laid face up in the bed. There was a faint light coming in from the bottom of the window shade opening. In the faint moonlight, he held up the Star of David necklace, and watched it reflect in the night.

He must have been zoning out because he did not even hear the footsteps as they approached his door. It was until the door creaked open and the yellow light from the hall flooded in, illuminating the dangling golden necklace.

"Tony."

"Ziva, hi." Tony sat up in bed. "Is something wrong?"

The look on Ziva's face said that it was, but he knew that she might not open as easily as he was hoping. Ziva walked over to the bed and Tony shifted to one side, giving her room to sit. Ziva sat down next to him and much to Tony's surprise, she put her head on his shoulder and leaned into his body. Tony put his arms around her body and said "It's okay Ziva, I'm here. You need to talk."

Tony felt a tear roll from Ziva's face onto the collar of his t-shirt. He briefly considered just holding her there, but he knew her walls might not be down for much longer. He turned toward her and placed a hand on each shoulder and he held her body in an upright position.

"Talk to me, Ziva, please. I'm fighting for you, I still am."

"The men, Tony. They, the-" She did not finish her sentence. It was apparent to Tony what she was about to say. "How many of them did that to you Ziva? How many?"

It was hard for Ziva to get the words out but she eventually struggled out a meek "thr, three."

Tony didn't say anything. Instead, he just tightened his grip around her body. They sat there like for a while.


End file.
